Commerce in an attempt to deal with violence in and around licensed premises.

We see this as a prime example of an area where the Chamber can be innovative and make a very valuable contribution to the whole community.

We see this violence as a community problem which can only be dealt with by involving people who are united to combat the violence which affects us all.

There are clearly quite young people involved and it may well be that the owners and the Chamber should talk with the parents of the younger people.

Parents of 15-year-olds who are out in the early morning armed with knives have to accept responsibility. It is not good enough for them to say that they did not know where their child was.

It will be very difficult to find solutions if parents do not admit they have a duty both to their children and to the community. Too often parents are in denial about what their children get up to and too often they blame "the system'' for their problem children and do not accept any blame for bad parenting.

Dealing with the suggestions of a curfew, Quinton Edness, the Minister of Home Affairs which includes Public Safety, has been quoted as asking: "Who will pay the penalty if the curfew is broken?'' Let's be straightforward and admit that if their child is fined by the courts, parents will pay that fine to keep the child out of prison.

Assuming Bermuda was to have a curfew, we believe there should be no suggestion of prison as a penalty and that any sentence should be confined by law to community service.

There is a suggestion that there should be a list of people who are known offenders, probably organised by the Chamber of Commerce and distributed by them to licence holders, to allow licence holders to refuse entry. On the surface that may sound efficient but it does not approach the root causes of the problem and might have the side effect of moving troublesome people to the streets where they would feel even more free to offend.

A few years ago, there was much discussion about training bar employees in the Server Intervention Programme. That programme tells bartenders and waiters and other employees how to intervene when there is a problem and when and how to deny service to people who have had too much to drink. It is a very valuable programme and can succeed.

The idea was not implemented because there was a strong lobby against its use.

It is a system which can have an impact and we think it should be considered again. It is not in any way a total solution but it could be a great help.